Drawer type cooking device

ABSTRACT

The drawer type cooking device of the present invention comprises a drawer body formed integrally with a door capable of opening and closing an opening portion of a heating chamber formed within a cooking device body  1 , a bracket  9   a  fixed to a movable rail  9  of a slide mechanism  7  for enabling the drawer body to be moved into and out of the cooking device body, and a rack gear  35  placed laterally and attached to an upper surface of the bracket  9   a . A pinion gear  36  that receives driving force from the drive motor and rotates is arranged horizontally and engaged with the rack gear  35  in a horizontally disengageable manner. The bracket 9 a  has small bending force applied in the perpendicular direction, and the rack gear  35  is supported with high rigidity via the slide mechanism  7.

The present application is based on and claims priority of Japanese patent application No. 2009-026770 filed on Feb. 6, 2009, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

1. Field of the Invention

The present invention relates to cooking devices in general, and especially relates to drawer type cooking devices having a drawer body formed integrally with a door and having an object to be heated stored therein, the drawer body capable of being drawn out to a front side of the cooking device.

2. Description of the Related Art

Cooking devices with an object loading portion capable of being drawn out from within a heating chamber have been proposed, but the present applicant has proposed, as shown in FIG. 3, a drawer type cooking device comprising a cooking device body 1 including a heating chamber 3, a drawer body 2 disposed movably within the cooking device body 1 so as to be drawn out from within the heating chamber 3, and a slide mechanism 7 having a slide rail for moving the drawer body 2 within the cooking device body 1 (patent document 1: Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. 2005-221081). The drawer body 2 has a wall panel 5 erected on a surrounding edge of the table for loading an object to be cooked, and the slide mechanism 7 is disposed on an inner side of a drawer arm 6. According to the drawer type cooking device, the drawer body 2 comprises a door 4, and the door 4 closes the front side opening portion of the heating chamber 3 with the drawer body 2 stored in the heating chamber 3, thereby preventing microwave generated during cooking from leaking to the exterior of the heating chamber 3. Since the slide mechanism 7 is disposed on the outer side of the heating chamber 3, it can be formed without using members or materials having high heat resistance and flame resistance, so that the manufacturing costs related thereto can be cut down, the occurrence of discharge failure can be prevented, and high safety and reliability can be achieved.

Further, the present applicant has proposed a drawer type cooking device, wherein the door can be automatically opened and closed via a drive mechanism such as a motor, and the door can also be manually opened and closed without causing failure of the motor and the gear portion for automatically opening and closing the door, according to which the operability of the cooking device is improved (patent document 2: Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. 2008-8562). As shown in FIGS. 4 and 5, the drawer type cooking device includes three slide mechanisms 7 for moving the drawer body 2 within the cooking device body 1, which are fixed rails 8 disposed on the cooking device 1 and movable rails 9 disposed on the drawer body 2 positioned corresponding to the outer left, right and bottom sides of the heating chamber 3. Furthermore, a drive mechanism composed of an electric motor 17 for automatically opening and closing the drawer body 2 or assisting the opening and closing thereof is disposed on the bottom side of the cooking device body 1 via an angle member 19. A pinion gear 16 attached to an output shaft of the electric motor 17 is engaged with a rack gear 15, and the rack gear 15 is attached with its gear face facing upward to a plate-like bracket 9 a attached to the movable rail 9 of the slide mechanism 7 arranged on the bottom side of the drawer body 2. Using such power transmission mechanism, the door 4 formed integrally with the door 2 is automatically opened and closed via the electric motor 17.

According to the above-mentioned drawer type cooking device in which the door 4 can be opened and closed automatically, an electromagnetic clutch 20 is disposed between the motor shaft 18 and the pinion gear 16 that functions as a disconnecting mechanism for disconnecting the transmission between the electric motor 17 and the rack gear 15. When the electromagnetic clutch 20 is connected via the selection of the user, the electric motor 17 moves the rack gear 15 to thereby automatically open and close the door of the cooking device. Further, if the electromagnetic clutch 20 is turned off, even when the pinion gear 16 rotates when the door 4 is opened and closed manually, that rotation is not transmitted to the electric motor 17, so that no excessive torque load will be applied on the engagement between the pinion gear 16 and the rack gear 15, and that no back electromotive force will be generated in the motor.

In the drawer type cooking device, the pinion gear 16 and the rack gear 15 are engaged perpendicularly as the bottom surface moving mechanism. That is, the pinion gear 16 is engaged from above to the rack gear 15, but the movement mechanism may have an allowance in the perpendicular direction. The plate-like bracket 9 a may be defected by the perpendicular pressing force. In order to maintain a constant engagement of the two gears 15 and 16 and to ensure positive engagement, a structure is adopted in which a support roller 22 is disposed on a lower rear surface of the rack gear 15 so as to sandwich the rack gear 15 between the pinion gear 16 and the support roller 22. The present applicant has proposed a side wall movement mechanism in which a rack gear disposed on a movable rail is sandwiched between a support roller and a pinion gear to which the rotation of the drive motor is transmitted (patent document 3: Japanese patent application laid-open publication No. 2009-2527).

Drawer type cooking devices are devices belonging to built-in kitchen equipment such as microwave ovens built into kitchen cabinets and furniture. Since such drawer type cooking devices can be built into the lower side of a countertop in a kitchen, and can be installed without occupying the space above the countertop, they are suitably adopted in kitchen structures where a plurality of cooking apparatuses are disposed three-dimensionally. Therefore, drawer type cooking devices are regarded as one type of kitchen equipment constituting fitted kitchens or designed kitchens, and the use thereof is spreading widely especially in the United States.

In the case of a built-in drawer type cooking device, in order to remove the drawer body 2 from the cooking device body 1 and to reassemble the same into the cooking device body 1, it is necessary to disengage the engagement portion between the rack gear 15 and the pinion gear 16, and then to engage the same again. Therefore, as shown in FIG. 6, it is necessary to pull out the cooking device body 1 including the drawer body 2 from the cavity 41 of the kitchen cabinet 40, remove an outer body casing of the cooking device body 1 so as to remove the gear assembly including the electric motor 17 and the support roller 22 disposed below the heating chamber, and assemble the same.

In order to repair the bottom movement mechanism of the built-in drawer type cooking device, since the drawer body 2 must be removed from the cooking device body 1 and then reassembled to the cooking device body 1, the engagement portion between the rack gear 15 and the pinion gear 16 should be separated manually. In order to do so, the cooking device body 1 including the drawer body 2 must be completely drawn out from the kitchen cabinet to the exterior of the cabinet such as on the floor of the kitchen, the outer casing of the cooking device body 1 must be removed, then the gear assembly including the support roller disposed below the heating chamber must be removed, and a new gear assembly must be assembled thereto. Since the device is heavy and large, it is difficult to draw out the main body form the kitchen cabinet for a single worker, so at least two repair workers must be sent to the site.

Even after drawing out the body from the kitchen cabinet, when it is necessary to confirm, adjust or repair the operation of the drive system including the engagement portion between the rack gear 15 and the pinion gear 16, it is necessary to perform a continuous set of operations, such as releasing the drive system, reengaging the same, and replacing the gear assembly or replacing the gear components constituting the gear assembly. In order to detach the gear assembly from the bottom movement mechanism, it is necessary to insert one hand to below the bottom surface of the heating chamber, grasp the gear assembly, separate the same from the rack gear resisting against the retention force by the pressure of the support roller, and remove the same from the gear assembly fixing angle fixed to the bottom panel of the heating chamber. Now, since the clearance between the bottom side of the heating chamber and the bottom panel of the cabinet is minimized to ensure the ceiling height of the heating chamber, the spaces above and below the gear assembly are extremely narrow, and the operation related to grasping and separating the gear assembly is extremely difficult. Upon attaching the gear assembly, it is necessary to retain the pinion gear at a separated state from the support roller and to reengage the same to the rack gear, which is also extremely difficult.

Therefore, compared with the repairing of general cooking devices, the repairing of the built-in drawer type cooking device requires much manpower and long repair time, and the repair service expenses are high. The manufacturer must bear the expenses during the guaranteed period, and the user must bear the expenses after the passing of the guaranteed period, but both parties do not wish to bear such expenses. The present applicant has discovered from customer survey that the increase of cost of the repair service expenses being one cause of dissatisfaction of customers is correlated with significance with the difficulty in the repairing operation of the bottom side movement mechanism.

Thus, the problem to be solved according to the present invention is to reconsider the perpendicular engagement of the drive gear and the rack in the bottom side movement mechanism, and to facilitate the repair service of the relevant portion.

The object of the present invention is to solve the problems mentioned above by providing a low-cost drawer type cooking device having a reduced number of components, capable of facilitating the operations including disengaging, reengaging and replacing gear components of the bottom side movement mechanism during maintenance and inspection operations.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION

In order to solve the prior art problems mentioned above, the drawer type cooking device according to the present invention comprises a drawer body formed integrally with a door for closing an opening portion of a heating chamber formed within a cooking device body and capable of loading an object to be cooked therein, a slide mechanism supporting the drawer body and capable of moving the drawer body in and out of the cooking device body, a drive motor for automatically opening and closing the door, and a power transmission mechanism including a pinion gear rotated by the drive motor and a rack gear attached to the slide mechanism and engaged with the pinion gear, wherein the power transmission mechanism realizes a horizontal engagement in which the pinion gear is engaged laterally with the rack gear.

According to the present drawer type cooking device, the direction of engagement of the pinion gear and the rack gear are set to the horizontal direction in the power transmission mechanism including the pinion gear and the rack gear, so that the rack gear can be placed laterally and supported with high rigidity via the slide mechanism.

According to the present drawer type cooking device, the slide mechanism comprises a fixed rail fixed to the cooking device body and a movable rail arranged slidably with respect to the fixed rail and attached to the door, wherein the rack gear is laterally placed on and attached to a surface of a bracket attached to the movable rail, and the pinion gear is arranged in a horizontally rotating manner. Moreover, a removable cover is attached to a bottom panel of the cooking device body at a position covering the drive motor and the power transmission mechanism, so that service operations such as inspection, repairing and replacement can be performed through an operation window formed by removing the cover. According further to the drawer type cooking device of the present invention, the cooking device body can be built into a kitchen cabinet in a removable manner with the door disposed on a front side thereof.

According to the drawer type cooking device of the present invention arranged as above, the power transmission mechanism including a pinion gear and a rack gear for transmitting the output of the drive motor to the moving in and out of the drawer body of the cooking device body adopts a horizontal engagement where the gears are engaged laterally, so that the rack gear can be supported with high rigidity on a component (movable rail) disposed on the drawer body. Therefore, the lateral defection of the lack gear can be minimized, and the engagement is provided with vertical flexibility across the range of the gear width. As a result, the engagement is maintained constantly via the slide rail, so the support roller disposed on the rear side supporting the rack gear from the rear side no longer becomes necessary, by which the number of components can be cut down, the manufacturing costs can be reduced, and reliability can be improved by overcoming the problem of clogging caused for example by having a foreign object sandwiched between the support roller and the rear side of the rack gear. Moreover, the improvement of the air inlet and outlet structure of the cooking device allows the height of the heating chamber to be increased significantly, so that the height of the power transmission mechanism no longer needs to be suppressed, the power transmission mechanism can be designed with high priority on the workability of the repair service, and excessive room can be formed around the power transmission mechanism.

As a result, the present invention enables service operation to be performed through the operation window disposed on the bottom panel of the body by drawing only a portion of the cooking device out of the kitchen cabinet and not completely removing the cooking device from the kitchen cabinet, so that the operation related to maintenance, inspection and replacement of the drive gear portion can be facilitated, and services can be improved. Furthermore, when the drawer body is taken out and reassembled during service operations related to maintenance, inspection and replacement, there is no need to perform any confirming operation when the drawer body is taken out, and the drawer body can be reengaged by simply pushing in the drawer body to the cooking device, so that the operation can be performed by a single worker. Thus, the time required for the repairing operation and the expenses of repair services can be cut down, by which dissatisfaction of customers related to the maintenance, inspection and replacement operations of the drive gear portion can be solved.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a cross-sectional front view showing a relevant portion of the drawer type cooking device according to the present invention;

FIG. 2 is a side view showing the state in which a portion of the built-in drawer type cooking device illustrated in FIG. 1 is drawn out from within a cabinet;

FIG. 3 is a perspective view of the drawer type cooking device in which the drawer body is drawn out and the door is opened;

FIG. 4 is a perspective view showing the drive motor and the power transmission mechanism of the drawer type cooking device;

FIG. 5 is a front view of FIG. 4; and

FIG. 6 is a side view showing the state where the prior art built-in drawer type cooking device is completely taken out of the cabinet.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Now, a preferred embodiment of a drawer type cooking device according to the present invention will be described with reference to the drawings. The basic structure of the drawer type cooking device according to the present invention includes a cooking device body 1, a drawer body 2, a slide mechanism 7 and a drive motor (electric motor), similar to the prior art drawer type cooking device. The drawer body 2 capable of loading thereon an object to be cooked is integrally formed with a door 4 capable of opening and closing an opening portion of a heating chamber 3 formed within the cooking device body 1, and the drawer body 2 is supported via the slide mechanism 7 and can be moved in and out with respect to the cooking device body 1.

As shown in FIG. 1, a gear assembly 30 composed of a gear transmission mechanism rotated via the drive motor is fixed with respect to a gear assembly fixing angle 34 attached to a bottom panel 3 a of a heating chamber 3 from underneath. The gear assembly 30 is composed of a group of horizontally-rotated arbitrary reduction gears, and a pinion gear 36 to which the rotation of the gears of the group of reduction gears is transmitted is arranged so that its axis is vertically arranged and the gear rotates horizontally. A rack gear 35 to be engaged with the pinion gear 36 is attached to a surface of an end portion adjacent to the pinion gear 36 of a bracket 9 a fixed to a movable rail 9 of a slide mechanism 7. The rack gear 35 is arranged so that the gear plane thereof is arranged laterally so as to engage with the pinion gear 36, and the pinion gear 36 realizes a horizontal engagement in which the gear is engaged laterally with the rack gear 35 in a horizontally-separatable manner. As described, the gear assembly 30, the pinion gear 36 and the rack gear 35 constitute a transmission mechanism for transmitting the rotation of the drive motor.

The rotation of the drive motor is transmitted to the gear assembly 30 and the pinion gear 36, then converted at the rack gear 35 to a linear movement in the longitudinal direction thereof, and then the linear movement is transmitted via the bracket 9 a to the movable rail 9 of the slide mechanism 7. The movable rail 9 is attached to the door 4, so that when the movable rail 9 is guided along a fixed rail 10 of the slide mechanism 7, the door 4 opens or closes the opening portion of the heating chamber 3 and the drawer body 2 moves into or out of the heating chamber

Upon connecting the rack gear 35 and the pinion gear 36, for example, a strong magnetic force overcoming the force of the spring normally assembled to act in the direction separating the two gears 35 and 36 is applied, so as to engage the two gears 35 and 36 in a disengageable manner in the horizontal direction, and to ensure the engagement thereof. Therefore, pressing force is applied to the two gears 35 and 36 when the gears are at the connected state. Since the rack gear 35 is laterally placed and attached to the surface of the end portion of the bracket 9 a, it is supported by the bracket 9 a with high rigidity, and the pressing force acts close to the surface of the bracket 9 a and in parallel to the surface. Therefore, the pressing force rarely causes defection of the bracket 9 a compared to when the force is applied orthogonally, so that the lateral defection of the rack gear 35 is minimized, and a flexibility across the range of the gear width of the rack gear 35 can be provided in the vertical direction. As a result, the engagement of the slide mechanism 7 can be maintained constantly.

Further, according to the prior art structure in which the pressing force is applied to the perpendicular direction of the bracket 9 a, it was necessary to arrange a support roller on the rear side of the rack gear 35 as a countermeasure against defection of the bracket 9 a, but according to the present invention, the pressing force is not applied in the perpendicular direction, so that there is no need to arrange a support roller on the rear side of the rack gear 35. As a result, together with the horizontal arrangement of the pinion gear, the number of components constituting the cooking device can be reduced, and the manufacturing costs can be cut down. Furthermore, the reliability of the device can be improved since clogging caused by having a foreign object sandwiched between the support roller on the rear side and the rear side of the rack gear does not occur. Furthermore, the pressing force according to the present invention enables to absorb the horizontal backlash via the slide rail of the slide mechanism.

The gear components constituting the drive motor or the power transmission mechanism may be required to be replaced by consumption or for service. In order to answer to such demands, a removable cover 38 is disposed on the bottom panel 37 of the cooking device body 1 to cover the area corresponding to the power transmission mechanism including the drive motor, the gear components 30 and the pinion gear 35. In the prior art, upon performing service operations such as maintenance, inspection and replacement, it was necessary to remove almost or all of the whole body of the built-in drawer type cooking device completely from the cabinet 40, but according to the present drawer type cooking device, it is no longer necessary to completely remove the cooking device from a cavity 41 of the kitchen cabinet 40, and it is only necessary to pull out the body at least to expose the cover 38. Since service operations such as the maintenance and inspection of drive gear portions and replacement of components can be performed from below through an operation window 39 opened to the bottom panel 37 of the cooking device body 1, the operation can be simplified and performed by a single worker, according to which the workability is improved. Furthermore, when it is necessary to remove and reassemble the drawer body 2 during service operations including maintenance, inspection and replacement, there is no need for any special confirmation during removal, and during reassembly, the engagement of the drawer body can be performed simply by pushing in the drawer body 2. 

1. A drawer type cooking device comprising: a drawer body formed integrally with a door for closing an opening portion of a heating chamber formed within a cooking device body and capable of loading an object to be cooked therein; a slide mechanism supporting the drawer body and capable of moving the drawer body into and out of the cooking device body; a drive motor for automatically opening and closing the door; and a power transmission mechanism including a pinion gear rotated by the drive motor and a rack gear attached to the slide mechanism and engaged with the pinion gear; wherein the power transmission mechanism realizes a horizontal engagement in which the pinion gear is engaged laterally with the rack gear.
 2. The drawer type cooking device according to claim 1, wherein the slide mechanism comprises a fixed rail fixed to the cooking device body and a movable rail arranged slidably with respect to the fixed rail and attached to the door, wherein the rack gear is laterally placed on and attached to a surface of a bracket attached to the movable rail, and the pinion gear is arranged in a horizontally rotating manner.
 3. The drawer type cooking device according to claim 1, wherein a removable cover is attached to a bottom panel of the cooking device body at a position covering the drive motor and the power transmission mechanism.
 4. The drawer type cooking device according to claim 1, wherein the cooking device body is built into a kitchen cabinet in a removable manner with the door disposed on a front side thereof.
 5. The drawer type cooking device according to claim 2, wherein a removable cover is attached to a bottom panel of the cooking device body at a position covering the drive motor and the power transmission mechanism.
 6. The drawer type cooking device according to claim 2, wherein the cooking device body is built into a kitchen cabinet in a removable manner with the door disposed on a front side thereof. 